Improvement in railway-rail cleaners



iuted tant @anni dtjljliw. i

4caaLosORTIZAND nltaao "vALLAnAREs'or MATANZAS, CUBA.

` Letters Patent No. 105,593, dated my 19,1870.

l MPRovEMnNii' IN RAILWAY-Raitt. cLEANL'Rs.

Schedule referred` to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same. A

.To all whom it may concern:

\Be it known that we,GA1tn0s ORTIZ and HILARIO VALLADARES, of Matanzas, iu the Island ofCuba,

have invented anlmprovenient in Rail-Cleaners for Railroadf'lracks;andtl'ietfollcwing is declared to bev a correct description" t' the. saine, f 4 ,Y

Sand-boxes are usually employed, especially-with- `freight-engines', for supplying sand `upon the surfaceof the rails in 4fronia of `the driving-wheels, in ordertoin.- crease the traction, and prevent thejvheels slipping upon the' rails. The sand and gritty particles, remaining upon 'the track, are'detrimental, becausethey cause wear of both .the rails' and the wheels of the cars, and' are an obstruction to the free rollin,r of' the wheels upon the track, so that 'considerable loss of power `arises, because the" engine has to overcome a resistance that would not exist if `the track was cleaned of such gritty particles.

Our-inventionis to clean the trackrof the sand and foreign 'substances behind the driving-wheels, and lubricate that track by moisture. l

' To e'eot these objects we provide a pipe connecting witlr a suitable cock upon the steamfspace of the boiler, said pipe branching'ou't, so as to terminate near the track, and just behind the driving-wheels; and at the ends of said branches, ferriiles are attached, with `small orifices, so that a sufloientlyrapid jet of steam will be directed upon the track to blow oli' from the i same the gritty particles that may remain of the sand supplied in front of the fdriving-wheels, so as to clean the track, and, at the same time, any condensation that there may be of the steam upon the track serves to lubrioate the same, and lessen friction of the wheels of the cars. 'I

In the drawing-f l lIligure l shows a portion of the locomotive and one of the hind driving-wheels Figure 2 is a rear View, showing the mode of apply 'The pipe fi, is represented as ruiming down in front of the driving-wheel, to supply sand from the sandbox, as usual.

lVie do not claim the useot asteam-pipe in front ot' the driving-wheels of a locomotive-engine to clear the track ot' show, grease, or other material that would obstruct the action of thcdriviug-wheels. What we claim as our invention is The arrangement, in a locom0ti\'e-enginc,`oi` stealn .pipes and nozzles behind the driving-wheels, 1n cornbination with the sand-pipes iu front of -the drlvmgwheels, as and for the purposes specified.

` In witness whereof we have hereunto set our signatures this 25th day of February, A. D. 1870.

` CARLOS ORTIZ. HILARIO VALLADARES Witnesses:

JOS M. POSE, LUIS D; PON; Y 

